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as far as my limited experience goes, diamonds are a dime a dozen... BUT gem-quality diamonds are extremely rare, even synthetic ones. if you need to buy IF/F w
by princeb 10y ago
as far as my limited experience goes, diamonds are a dime a dozen... BUT gem-quality diamonds are extremely rare, even synthetic ones. if you need to buy IF/F with an ideal cut at 0.5cts and above, it's going to be pricey, lab grown or not. the lab process will introduce colour and flaws in the diamond just as the natural process does.
- ridgeguy 10y agoThe lab processes introduce color and flaws only if they're wanted. The old way of making diamonds, growing them in metallic solvents at pressures over 50K atmospheres (where diamond is the thermodynamically stable form of carbon) produced crystals with metallic solvent inclusions and other flaws that would distinguish them from naturals. It was hard but not impossible to make a D flawless gem with HPHT methods. It was never economical because of the equipment capital cost and slow growth rate required for that type of diamond. The microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) can make D flawless gems routinely and cheaply. Using hydrogen and methane as the source gases, one can make very nice colorless rough which can be further improved with a short post-deposition high temperature anneal in hydrogen plasma. Laser cutting and conventional faceting then give you a very nice DF rock. If you want colored diamonds, boron in the synthesis gas gives blue. Other treatments give the full color spectrum. It is possible to tell CVD synthetics from naturals, but it's not easy. Flaws and inclusions aren't usually helpful. It takes sophisticated absorption and luminescence spectroscopy to see optical features that uniquely identify CVD gems. Most jewelers don't yet have this capability.